--- product_id: 11880926 title: "Interactive Composition: Strategies Using Ableton Live and Max for Live" price: "£38.13" currency: GBP in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.co.uk/products/11880926-interactive-composition-strategies-using-ableton-live-and-max-for-live store_origin: GB region: United Kingdom --- # Interactive Composition: Strategies Using Ableton Live and Max for Live **Price:** £38.13 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Interactive Composition: Strategies Using Ableton Live and Max for Live - **How much does it cost?** £38.13 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.co.uk](https://www.desertcart.co.uk/products/11880926-interactive-composition-strategies-using-ableton-live-and-max-for-live) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description Interactive Composition empowers readers with all of the practical skills and insights they need to compose and perform electronic popular music in a variety of popular styles. The book begins by introducing all of the tools involved in creating interactive compositions through the software Ableton Live and Max for Live. The following chapters then put the tools to use by both describing particular musical styles and also teaching readers how to compose and perform within these styles using the software. As readers progresses through the book, they will learn to use the software to facilitate their own unique compositional objectives. This book takes readers through all of the steps in designing interactive music compositions. It is geared toward both beginners as well as intermediate and advanced readers, and so readers with even little experience working with digital audio software will quickly learn how to design powerful systems that facilitate their unique compositional ideas. A particular feature of this book is that it discusses the historical context of several electronic music styles used by DJs, electronic musicians, and other artists, and then describes, using software, the technical process used in the composition and performance of these styles. Each chapter leads readers to create an original composition in a given style and also discusses the techniques that can be used to perform the piece in an idiomatic fashion. Review: Best tutorial for Ableton Live - I purchased Ableton Live after a few days with the demo playing around with it because I thought it would be an enjoyable tool. I also purchased the Ableton Live 9 Power! book as it seemed to be a good, thorough introduction. I'm five chapters and several evenings through that book and I didn't do a single damn thing with Ableton Live and haven't made any music. (desertcart had the Kindle version of Power for something like $30, but the print book was like $28 plus a $3 Kindle upgrade, so I opted for that combo. FYI: The Kindle version of this book is really crappy with terrible resolution graphics - avoid it. The print book is fine, but large, almost letter size page format.) Browsing desertcart, I saw Interactive Composition: Strategies Using Ableton Live and Max for Live and picked it up. I wanted to get a PDF but it wasn't available from the usual places like O'Reilly so I purchased the Kindle book. (I prefer PDFs as most books with any layout or graphics are badly mangled by Kindle formatting.) So far, though, this book seems to be formatted adequately for Kindle, but I cannot say for certain without having seen the print book. The images have been adequate and I have no complaints with the Kindle format. It's not yet reformatted for the non-full-justified reading style that desertcart recently announced, though. I've been working my way through Interactive Composition on a 27" (non-Retina) iMac with Ableton Live 9 Suite, with it opened on the side of the screen and Live on the other side. This has been somewhat convenient but I also keep it open on my iPad on the table so I could maximize Live at the same time if I felt the need. Now, I have only completed the first chapter including all of its steps and the final exercise, and let me tell you after this one chapter I have learned and done more in Live than I did with almost six chapters of Ableton Live 9 Power. It has a fabulous hands-on approach with detailed, step-by-step directions on how to do things and explanations of what it is you're doing. You can of course stop at any time and play with Live to experiment with things. This is a truly great way to learn Live. Comparing it to Power, which just says things like "this does X, that does Y, this button here does Z" it's a no brainer. Perhaps if you know all about making music on a computer it's useful to have that sort of description provided by Live 9 Power, but I'm a classical pianist and am pretty new to making music directly on the computer. Furthermore, Power spends a few chapters just telling you about things that are completely incomprehensible and pointless to the user like preferences and window layouts. Sure, I might need that information as a reference one day, but reading the long, interminable chapter about Live's preferences in Power was an exercise in tedium that rivaled any of the horrible "classic" books I had to read decades ago in high school. Not that it wasn't well written, just that it was completely useless information to a new Live user with absolutely not context to understand any of it. Anyway, the first chapter of Interactive Composition is about the Arrangement View and how you can use it to make a song in what I have come to learn is the traditional DAW layout, with horizontal tracks. By the end you have enough information to make a full song using MIDI tools and built in instruments (probably not one that is mixed or has any effects or anything, but at least you have the notes and the outline and the clips). I seem to recall the book even had me record an audio clip, but didn't give much information on how to manipulate that, and my horrible solfege didn't quite line up with the timing so I figured out how to "fix" that by dragging little triangles. I feel like I could now put in my own songs (as MIDI anyway). The final exercise is to download a MIDI file from the Internet and set it all up. I found one ("Call Me" by Blondie) and spent hours tweaking it, modifying it and getting it to sound right - to my ear of course. I could probably spend another dozen hours or more on it, but it's time to move on... The second chapter of the book is about the Session View, which I've come to associate with the "Live" portion of Live and hence the most unusual part. I have a Push on order and will start that chapter this weekend. I'm looking forward to more time with this book and Live. I wanted to wholeheartedly recommend Interactive Composition to anyone wanting to get into Live. Although it shows as a $100 book for the print version, desertcart's Kindle version was less than $15. For such an expensive piece of software, it's a no-brainer. Great book. Review: Great resource for beginners and professionals! - As a classically trained music professor who dabbles in music technology, this has been a terrific book to prepare me to introduce Ableton and a new way of thinking about composition to my students. I am currently working my way through the book and have never used Ableton Live before. It's been very easy to jump right into the projects and produce music. The supplemental downloads are great and easy to use. I've had the pleasure of attending workshops by Will, and now I more fully understand how to use the software and see the possibilities in creating my own course materials. This book is fantastic for anyone looking to use Ableton to create a variety of styles of music. The book covers ambient, hip-hop, modern house, chiptune, dubstep, drum and bass, pop/rock, and more. Check it out! ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #1,821,386 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #646 in Music Composition (Books) #1,016 in Music (Books) #6,655 in Music Instruction & Study (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.4 out of 5 stars 94 Reviews | ## Images ![Interactive Composition: Strategies Using Ableton Live and Max for Live - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71Nuhbd1x+L.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Best tutorial for Ableton Live *by D***0 on June 5, 2015* I purchased Ableton Live after a few days with the demo playing around with it because I thought it would be an enjoyable tool. I also purchased the Ableton Live 9 Power! book as it seemed to be a good, thorough introduction. I'm five chapters and several evenings through that book and I didn't do a single damn thing with Ableton Live and haven't made any music. (Amazon had the Kindle version of Power for something like $30, but the print book was like $28 plus a $3 Kindle upgrade, so I opted for that combo. FYI: The Kindle version of this book is really crappy with terrible resolution graphics - avoid it. The print book is fine, but large, almost letter size page format.) Browsing Amazon, I saw Interactive Composition: Strategies Using Ableton Live and Max for Live and picked it up. I wanted to get a PDF but it wasn't available from the usual places like O'Reilly so I purchased the Kindle book. (I prefer PDFs as most books with any layout or graphics are badly mangled by Kindle formatting.) So far, though, this book seems to be formatted adequately for Kindle, but I cannot say for certain without having seen the print book. The images have been adequate and I have no complaints with the Kindle format. It's not yet reformatted for the non-full-justified reading style that Amazon recently announced, though. I've been working my way through Interactive Composition on a 27" (non-Retina) iMac with Ableton Live 9 Suite, with it opened on the side of the screen and Live on the other side. This has been somewhat convenient but I also keep it open on my iPad on the table so I could maximize Live at the same time if I felt the need. Now, I have only completed the first chapter including all of its steps and the final exercise, and let me tell you after this one chapter I have learned and done more in Live than I did with almost six chapters of Ableton Live 9 Power. It has a fabulous hands-on approach with detailed, step-by-step directions on how to do things and explanations of what it is you're doing. You can of course stop at any time and play with Live to experiment with things. This is a truly great way to learn Live. Comparing it to Power, which just says things like "this does X, that does Y, this button here does Z" it's a no brainer. Perhaps if you know all about making music on a computer it's useful to have that sort of description provided by Live 9 Power, but I'm a classical pianist and am pretty new to making music directly on the computer. Furthermore, Power spends a few chapters just telling you about things that are completely incomprehensible and pointless to the user like preferences and window layouts. Sure, I might need that information as a reference one day, but reading the long, interminable chapter about Live's preferences in Power was an exercise in tedium that rivaled any of the horrible "classic" books I had to read decades ago in high school. Not that it wasn't well written, just that it was completely useless information to a new Live user with absolutely not context to understand any of it. Anyway, the first chapter of Interactive Composition is about the Arrangement View and how you can use it to make a song in what I have come to learn is the traditional DAW layout, with horizontal tracks. By the end you have enough information to make a full song using MIDI tools and built in instruments (probably not one that is mixed or has any effects or anything, but at least you have the notes and the outline and the clips). I seem to recall the book even had me record an audio clip, but didn't give much information on how to manipulate that, and my horrible solfege didn't quite line up with the timing so I figured out how to "fix" that by dragging little triangles. I feel like I could now put in my own songs (as MIDI anyway). The final exercise is to download a MIDI file from the Internet and set it all up. I found one ("Call Me" by Blondie) and spent hours tweaking it, modifying it and getting it to sound right - to my ear of course. I could probably spend another dozen hours or more on it, but it's time to move on... The second chapter of the book is about the Session View, which I've come to associate with the "Live" portion of Live and hence the most unusual part. I have a Push on order and will start that chapter this weekend. I'm looking forward to more time with this book and Live. I wanted to wholeheartedly recommend Interactive Composition to anyone wanting to get into Live. Although it shows as a $100 book for the print version, Amazon's Kindle version was less than $15. For such an expensive piece of software, it's a no-brainer. Great book. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Great resource for beginners and professionals! *by B***S on February 25, 2015* As a classically trained music professor who dabbles in music technology, this has been a terrific book to prepare me to introduce Ableton and a new way of thinking about composition to my students. I am currently working my way through the book and have never used Ableton Live before. It's been very easy to jump right into the projects and produce music. The supplemental downloads are great and easy to use. I've had the pleasure of attending workshops by Will, and now I more fully understand how to use the software and see the possibilities in creating my own course materials. This book is fantastic for anyone looking to use Ableton to create a variety of styles of music. The book covers ambient, hip-hop, modern house, chiptune, dubstep, drum and bass, pop/rock, and more. Check it out! ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Getting deeper into Ableton *by M***N on October 6, 2016* Great book, helps you dig a lot deeper in Ableton. Great tutorials on Max for live... I really recommend it to any wanna be "music Producer" ,like me hahaha... ## Frequently Bought Together - Interactive Composition: Strategies Using Ableton Live and Max for Live - Music Theory for Electronic Music Producers: The producer's guide to harmony, chord progressions, and song structure in the MIDI grid. - The Music Producer's Creative Guide to Ableton Live 11: Level up your music recording, arranging, editing, and mixing skills and workflow techniques --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.co.uk/products/11880926-interactive-composition-strategies-using-ableton-live-and-max-for-live](https://www.desertcart.co.uk/products/11880926-interactive-composition-strategies-using-ableton-live-and-max-for-live) --- *Product available on Desertcart United Kingdom* *Store origin: GB* *Last updated: 2026-05-22*